Most Owners aren’t bad at budgeting. They’re just not in the construction business. Yet they’re often asked to set a project budget before they really understand how design, scope, market conditions, and schedule all drive cost. They pick a number before they even fully understand what is actually going into the building. So they pick a number. Old comps. Bad square foot metrics. Or whatever else they can come up with. Then everyone spends the next year trying to force reality to fit it. That’s